Trend-watch: yassifying horror, de-yassifying TikTok, Bratz, and sus Grammys 👀
An alien and cowboy cross-over isn't one that I expected, but I'm not complaining.
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Cowboys, martian babies, stalemates and sustainability. We have so much to talk about; by ‘we’, I mean ‘I ‘, and by ‘talk’, I mean yap. You all ordered the yappaccino and I’m the barista serving (in more ways than one) it to you. Now, drink it up because it’s a lot and let’s get yapping. >:)
Couture Week and its affair with horror
Everybody, this is NOT a drill. FASHION IS SO BACK, BABY! I'm proclaiming this too soon, but who cares? For now, fashion is so back. Couture week was insane, but three brands stood out the most. The Schiaparelli, Robert Wun, and Margiela collections are all that people can talk about and for a good reason.
In congruence with John Galliano's designs for the Margiela 2024 artisanal collection, Pat McGrath's work mystified everyone who saw it. Picture this for me, will you? Models resembling porcelain dolls walk down a dimly lit and honestly a little shady-looking street that could be mistaken for a period piece set in the late 19th century. If you watch the collection showcase online, you're greeted with a short film directed by Baz Luhrmann, which flows into the actual collection showcase, where Leon Dame opens the show. The collection wasn't overtly horror. It was a poetic sort of horror, you know? The way models were swaying side to side as if being controlled by a puppeteer and an expressionless porcelain face interacting with the audience, breaking the fourth wall of a fashion show, and obviously, the set design all contributed to an eerie setting. It also transported all the fashion girlies to a time when extravagant shows and models with personalities on the runway were typical.
Now Robert Wun, yeah, he's the designer my parents would've compared me to if I decided to get into fashion design. So I'm glad I didn't because I'm already struggling as a business student, but I'm so glad that God put me on his green earth at the same time as Robert Wun so I could witness his greatness (and write newsletters about it like a modern-day bard). He pulled from his favourite horror media for his collection, which he finds more poetic than scary. Is it just me, or is there a running theme here? Something about designers pulling from horror media metaphorically instead of literally soothes my soul. I see the collection as a wedding gone wrong because a partner's past kept haunting them and unravelling the seams of their relationship.
To end this fashion commentary, it's only fair I yap about how Schiaparelli ends other houses season after season. This season, he decided to boldly go where no man had gone before. Okay, not exactly. I wanted to use a Star Trek reference because it's so fitting. I'm just a big ol' nerd, and I'm embracing that side of myself now. He did pay homage to Elsa Schiaparelli's astronomer uncle with the very Martian theme of the collection—a dress made of defunct tech parts and a baby made of tech trinkets. The entire collection respected the house codes, but Daniel Roseberry referenced his Texan roots with bolero jackets, buckles and bandanas. Schiaparelli's collection was also a massive statement against the growing use of AI and the scary, fast advancement we're seeing in tech. Neither of those are bad things, but the way people are going about it is concerning to see fashion houses slowly go back to the golden ages of fashion is a refreshing break.
TikTok’s age-old habit of… flipping over creatives
Oh, TikTok, you never fail to disappoint creatives. If you’re confused, the long and short of it is that UMG refused to renew its contract with TikTok because the latter refused to pay the market rate for their catalog. Now, it affects more than just the musicians signed to UMG; it affects creators, small artists, consumers and, surprisingly, TikTok. For musicians and UMG, it’s obviously a case of reduced streams, which means less money. Imagine being a millionaire (and a billionaire with one of the worst carbon footprints) crying about reduced revenue. But to be the devil’s advocate, having their music on TikTok did help with the marketing, so there are pros and cons.
Not having music on an app that’s entirely structured around music is a little troublesome. Verge’s Nilay Patel explained in an interview with Vox that TikTok was brought to the U.S. as part of an acquisition where they bought Musical.ly. On TikTok, music is the driving principle — music is used for trends, old music is brought back and recontextualised. Independent artists and artists under a label use TikTok to market their work, and consumers use it to find new music and artists.
For creators, a considerable chunk of their posts have no music now. It’s funny to see, but if a platform like TikTok cannot provide its users with music, then a migration is bound to happen. TikTok’s power to change careers is massive, and the fact that they’re being so stubborn right now might cause their downfall because they’ve found themselves in hot water with the American government anyway. UMG stated that TikTok is only 1% of their revenue, so why are they fighting so hard? When a song goes viral on TikTok, whether for the first time or the millionth, the revenue it brings is much more than what TikTok paid UMG when one of the songs from their catalog went viral.
When it comes to this stalemate, I imagine them standing across each other in a desert with tumbleweeds rolling down somewhere and trying to see who’ll lose. Well, TikTok will, obviously, because UMG is the quickest across all Western land. But no, seriously, UMG made YouTube take down AI covers from their platform, so for TikTok to NOT cave is just bad for their business. It’s still a fresh feud and a developing story, so anything could happen. All we can do is wait.
Bratz: the Flash of the marketing world
While we’re all waiting for the results from that stalemate, how about we talk about the Bratz marketing team? THEY are the quickest in all of the western land. Mere seconds (that’s an exaggeration) after the Margiela collection dropped, the dolls were glammed with the Pat McGrath look. They also recreated Miley Cyrus’ Grammy look at that very moment. Nobody knows how they’re so quick, but it’s refreshing to see such a proactive marketing team. They also know how to grow up with their audience, as proven by their TikTok series aimed at adults. I also don’t want to hear Barbie and Bratz being pitted against each other because they’re both certified bad Bs. So, if you want to learn marketing from anyone, let it be Bratz.
The surprising connection between Grammy and sustainability 🤨
Who would've thought that on music's biggest night, when a bunch of millionaires collaborate with one of the most wasteful industries, would have an impact on sustainability? All of us. Let's talk about how, though. So, for any award show, celebrities wear multiple looks throughout the night. All of these looks are shown to the masses, making the general audience want novelty. This need for novelty is then projected back onto the red carpets because everyone wants to see new looks, and it's just a vicious cycle. With this also comes a lot of waste because if the looks are custom, they're rarely ever worn again (at least publicly). For the brands' designers, making custom looks is like creating entirely new collections JUST FOR A NIGHT.
However, that's changing. With how popular vintage and thrifting are with the general public, stylists and PR teams are tapping into that and putting celebrities in archival looks. It's a good thing for the environment, the brands and the celebrities. It's a win all around. See, celebrities get to show us that they have access to the best of the best that we common peasants couldn't even think of having. Stress for the designers is alleviated, and the fashion house gets to show off its legacy. It's not a lot, and a lot of it is for selfish reasons, but it's SOMETHING, and in the world of celebrities where the bare minimum gets praised, this is monumental.
So what have we learned?
To finish this yappaccino, let me say that fashion is so back; the Bratz marketing team needs to hit us up, TikTok needs to cave in because ???, and the Grammy needs to look at artists beyond Taylor Swift for album of the year. I’m kidding, I’m happy for her, and I’m gonna let her finish… Kidding again. Bonus prediction: This whole cowboy, American countryside aesthetic, denim on denim, is SO BACK, too. I don’t think it’s a micro-trend like Mob Wife; I believe it’s here to stay for the long run, especially with Beyonce and Lana’s new album being country + Pharrell’s latest collection for Louis Vuitton and Schiaparelli’s Texan references. With country coming into the zeitgeist, I just think whiskey will creep its way into social media trends one way or the other, and so will Pedro Pascal’s and Channing Tatum’s characters in Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Maybe more references to Tarantino’s Django Unchained. Halloween is going to be a very interesting one. I’ll see y’all dressed as Woody and Jessie soon. Get ahead of the curve, hop on that wild horse and run, pardner, run. Yeehaw. 🤠
Any questions/suggestions as to what we should cover next? Reach out to us and we’re always here to chat!
— Written by Shaurya, Trends Reporter at The Z Link
Connect with Shaurya on Instagram where she shares great content and lives her best influencer life as a fashion student in London. And she writes all of these great issues too. What can’t she do??? 🧐 Thank you for reading!